1. Technical Field
Aspects of this document relate generally to a device and an assembly for coupling external optical components to a portable electronic device such as a cell phone.
2. Background Art
The portable media player market has changed dramatically in the past several years and with it, the portable media player case market. Recent trends have focused on the emergence of the mobile media device, which simply put is a handheld phone incorporating several additional features not found in traditional handheld phones.
Mobile media devices can include one or more of the following features: the merging of a personal data/digital assistant (PDA) and a cellular phone; a keyboard interface (e.g., a QWERTY keyboard) configuration as either a touch screen or tactile keyboard; the capability to receive/download audio/video files. Furthermore, mobile media devices can: run an operating system software providing a standardized interface and platform for application developers; include advanced features like e-mail, Internet access and e-book reader capability; and/or include a built-in full keyboard or external USB keyboard and VGA connector. Mobile media devices can also include sophisticated multimedia functionality such as audio/video recording and playback capabilities previously only available in specific devices such as cameras, video cameras, and video players.
In other words, a mobile media device can be considered a miniature computer that has telephone capability and one or more multimedia capabilities that were previously reserved to many specific individual devices. Examples of mobile media devices include: the iPhone® product by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., the Blackberry® product by Research In Motion (RIM) of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, and the Android® devices produced by Nokia of Keilaniemi, Espoo, Finland, LG Corp. of Seoul, South Korea and Samsung Group of Seoul, South Korea.
Photographic and videographic devices have also undergone significant changes in recent years. Digital cameras are widely available and even simple entry-level cameras often have video recording capabilities. Since the introduction of mobile phones, and later, mobile media devices that incorporated built-in cameras with video recording capabilities, the trend has focused on integrating what once were point-specific devices into robust multimedia platforms, as evidenced by the dominance of multimedia as one of several synergistic features offered by recent mobile media devices. Technological advances have made all but the most advanced digital cameras and camcorders obsolete. Many mobile media devices offer built-in cameras that exceed, by an order of magnitude, functionality that was only available in high-end specialty equipment only a generation earlier.
All of these devices have benefited from the breadth and depth of technological advances, ranging from miniaturization of electrical and electronic components, to the increasing power and efficiency of microprocessors, to large quantities of digital storage. In short, capabilities and market adoption are increasing while cost and physical size are decreasing—a steady improvement in the price-to-performance ratio as a consequence of diffusion into the global marketplace.
Following the introduction of mobile media devices, mobile media device cases were introduced. Cases are intended to provide physical protection for mobile media devices and the ability for users to more easily handle and use a mobile media device. They can also provide various types of aesthetic qualities. In some instances, cases offer a simple mechanical function that provides better usability or convenience.
The nexus of these developments and trends represents the current state-of-the-art. Mobile media devices are essentially handheld, highly portable multimedia-capable computers. It is now possible to take photos, record video, compose correspondence, and communicate it in near real-time over the Internet, all by using the same mobile media device.
Mobile media devices and their cases serve complementary though largely unrelated functions. The case is merely an accessory that provides a few simple features such as protecting the surfaces of the mobile media device, or providing a different surface material to enhance ergonomics usability, or providing aesthetic benefits.
Unfortunately, current mobile media device cases have many shortcomings. Some attempts have been made to create entire mobile media device cases with a fixed optics assembly, but none have the ability to use interchangeable optics assemblies that couple to, and remove from, the mobile media device case without additional tools. The current state-of-the-art either does not offer this feature or requires the user to have in his possession multiple cases, such that he must use a specific case for a specific function such as attaching a microscope to enhance the built-in camera's optical capabilities. Requiring the user to have multiple cases is not only costly, but is both impractical and inefficient. A mobile media device case having fixed optics, such as a microscope, is undesirable because the user cannot easily stow this case on his person and he must have another case when he wishes to afford the benefits of a case without the additional functionality